Last
year’s occupiers of Wall Street included protesters against not just the
financial and banking lobby, but other powerful interest groups that dominate
political life in America.
And the harshest criticism from across the barricades was directed not
at people like me denouncing corporate greed, but against a lone fellow with a
sign protesting U-S aid to Israel – billions of dollars in annual aid
to a modern, prosperous country, far more than anything we give to any of the
world’s poor nations. He was subjected
to long, heated lectures from passersby offended by the idea that the U.S
should not provide such extraordinary support to its special friend in the Middle East.
I sympathized with him, and told him so, because I’ve been through it.
In
fifty years as a journalist, I learned that criticizing Israel is a risky business in America – it can cost you friendships,
reputation, career, or political office.
For example, in the current presidential campaign, no candidate including
the President has questioned U.S. support for Israel, even as Israel has repeatedly threatened to
ignite a disastrous war by attacking Iran’s nuclear program. They haven’t because to do so would guarantee
a storm of protest from one of the most powerful interest groups in America, known as the Israel lobby.
